Drinking up to seven cups of coffee a day could help you live longer

Having up to seven cups of coffee a day could reduce the risk of an early death [Photo: Kaboom pics // Karolina via Pexels]

Coffee lovers rejoice because people who chug up to seven cups of the brown stuff a day can significantly cut their chances of an early death, a new study has revealed.

For many of us coffee is literally the elixir of life. And while we credit a caffeine hit for helping us wake up, perk up and shape up, we often get the coffee-guilts about exactly how much we’re drinking.

But new research, published in the British Medical Journal, has revealed that coffee is “more likely to benefit health than harm it”, suggesting that even heavy drinkers were safe.

The review of more than 200 previous investigations by the Universities of Southampton and Edinburgh found that optimum amount of coffee-consuming was three or four cups every day as this brought with it a 17 per cent reduced chance of death compared to people who drink none.

Compared to non-coffee drinkers, those who knocked back around three cups a day appeared to reduce their risk of developing heart problems and liver disease.

But those who drank seven still appeared to reap the benefit, enjoying a 10 per cent reduced chance of death.

Drinking coffee has also been linked to a lower risk of certain cancers including prostate cancer, endometrial cancer, skin cancer and liver cancer.

Consumption also had “beneficial associations” with other conditions including diabetes, gallstones, gout and some liver conditions, the study found.

But co-author Professor Paul Roderick says that the role coffee in particular had on the results isn’t terribly clear. “Factors such as age, whether people smoked or not and how much exercise they took could all have had an effect,” he says.

However, he does think that coffee does seem to offer some legit health benefits.

“There is a balance of risks in life and the benefits of moderate consumption of coffee seems to outweigh the risks,” he concludes.

The optimum number of cups of coffee a day is three or four [Photo: Freestocks.org via Pexels]

And it could hinder our attempts at shifting a few pounds too. While it’s tempting to believe that because it gets your heart racing and adrenaline pumping, drinking coffee could help you lose weight, according to a new study published in theJournal Of Food Science, it could do the total opposite by making you crave sweet foods.